7 tech billionaire philanthropists tackle world ills

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Idealistic go-getters on the move

As technology advances at warp speed, it's also creating wealth at an unprecedented pace, minting new billionaires and giving philanthropy a new spin. A new breed of so-called technophilanthropists are cropping up in the U.S. These idealistic go-getters are committed to using their wealth and innovation know-how to solve serious global ills.

"I would almost call it the Mark Zuckerberg phenomenon. You've got a lot of younger tech entrepreneurs making massive fortunes quickly, deciding to dedicate a pretty big chunk of that to charitable causes," said Michael Gentilucci, tech and Wall Street editor of InsidePhilanthropy.com. Many of these philanthropists use their entrepreneurial instincts to approach giving from a business perspective, "particularly with respect to global development," said Gentilucci.

Drawing from their penchant to disrupt industries and create new products and services, these do-gooders eschew top-down approaches to development and embrace data-driven innovation. It seems they are constantly stoking their imagination and getting things done.